Glass Makers Decorative

With the 1745 Excise Act introducing a heavy tax on glass makers, the weighty knop and double footed designs had to be replaced with something a little more economically sound. What emerged was the air-twist stem - wine glasses were much lighter but still highly decorative. Air-twists often feature diamond-point or wheel engravings of armorials, political mottoes and commemorative themes on the bowl.

The most popular type of air-twist was the multiple spiral, made from up to 12 even filaments. Those stems made with single spirals are known as single-series air-twists and not surprisingly those with two different patterns of spiral are referred to as double-series air-twists. Glasses such as these would have been made for the wealthy, who would have put them to use on a daily basis. They would cost several hundred pounds today.